Mercury vapor rectifier



NOV 3, 1931. H. MEYER-Uranus 1,830,437

MERCURY VAPOR'RECTIFIER Filed Jan. 8, 1925 Patented Nov. 3, 193

i UNITED Is'l'ua'rlszs PATENT. OFFICE HEINRICH IvIEYER-DELIUS, F MANNHEIM, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TVO AKTIENGESELL- SCHAFT BROWN, BOVERI AND CIE., BADEN, SWITZERLAND 4 i MERCURY VAPOR Rno'ririnn Application led January 8, 1923, Serial No.

The eXhaustion of a mercury vapor rectifier necessitates generally the use of an air pump combination comprising a preliminary vacuum pump and a high vacuum pump. As

5- a rule the preliminary vacuum pump so used is a mechanically driven rotary air pump working under oil, while latterly, the high vacuum pumps employed have been of the type known as mercury-vapor air pumps in 1o which mercury is heated and the mercury vapor thus formed is cooled again7 the air being carried along by theflowing mercury vapor and compressed into that part of the pump where the connection with the suction pipe of the preliminary vacuum pump is situated.

The present invention has for its object to construct an improved mercury vapor rectiiier wherein a separate high vacuum pump is dispensed with and the iiow of the mercury vapor of the rectifier is itself utilized for producing a pumping action, without intertering with the operation of the rectifier proper.

The mere location of a complete pump in the interior of the rectifier ait'ords of itself no advantage because, owing to the diirlculties of systematic cooling, neither the enclosed pump nor the rectier would work in a reliable manner.

According to this invention however the improved rectifier is constructed without substantial complication in such a manner that the parts which it must necessarily comprise are made to serve at the same time for rectiiication of the electric current as well as for the exhaustion of the air from the rectifier vessel. a guide tube for the mercury vapor rising from the cathode.

In a mercury vapor rectifier having a cooling top situated above the cathode, and having anodes arranged laterally of the latter, the rising mercury'vapor is led by a 45 guide tube into said cooling top of the recti- This result is achieved by providing 611,530, anain Germany January 19, 1922.

fier for the purpose on the one hand of keeping said mercury vapor away from the anode spaces and of imparting to it a predominantly upwardly directed velocity in such a manner that a'compression or condensation of the air takes place at `that point of the cooling top where the suction pipe of the preliminary vacuum pump is connected.'

cooling top where the compression or condensation of the air takesplace in consequence of the pumping action of the apparatus. It is necessary that the guide tube shall project into the cooling top-in order that the mingling of the air with the mercury vapor sha-ll take place only at a point where the mercury vapor begins to pass over in the form of mist, which in the present case takes place shortly after the vaporv has entered the externally cooled top.

, This invention will now be described more fully with reference to the constructional example illustrated in the accompanying drawing which is a vertical section of an improved rectifierV according to this invention.

As shown:

Gris a vessel of the mercury vapor recti- D is the domeshaped cooling top. W -is the water cooling jacket with inlet .e and outlet s A1, A2 are the anodes of the rectifier.

R is a cylindrical tube for guiding the mercury vapor.

g/ is the suction pipe leading to the preliminary vacuum pump.

Q is the particular space inthe cooling top D where the air flowing through the annular space N mingles with the rising mercury va or.

5 is the particular space in the cooling top D where the air carried along or over by the mercury vapor is liberated and in which therefore a compression or condensation of the vair takes place. Y

The arrowed line L indicates the course of the electric arc between the anodeand the., Y

cathode. The mercury vapor passing oifrom the cathode, is guided upwardly by the tube R with high velocity into the cooling dome At the point where said mercury Vleaves Y D. the guide tube R it has come between the of air from said casing by way of said-outlet. Y

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

- 'Dit HEINRICH MEYER-DELIUS.

water-cooled walls oi` the cooling dome, and A is converted into mist. This mist has a tendency to mingle with the air already contained in the rectiiier and air iiowing in through the annular space N and it carries the air thus imprisoned by it along with itA in the direction of the flow or" the mercury mist. Y

As the mercury mist becomes gradually completely condensed, the air lthat has been carried Valong' by it becomes free approximately at the point O whence it is sucked away through the suction pipe y of the preliminary vacuum pump. The condensed mercury .vapor falls down again in drops through the guide tube R, or outside the latter back into the dish of the cathode.

In this manner a high vacuum is gradually produced'in the rectifier without requiring a separate high vacuum pump. Y

For starting the rectiier for the rst time the use of a high vacuum pump may be required, but in such a case it is sufficient to provide for the use of lthe entire installation a single such pump which serves only i'or the firstV forming of the several rectiiiers, after which it is thrown out of operation by means ofa by-pass. l

Nhat I claim is Y l. In a mercury vapor rectifier, a mercury cathode, a cooling top provided with a suction outlet at approximately its highest point located aboveV said cathode, anodes located laterally of said top, and a tubular member located between said anodes and above said cathode and below said cooling top, said member being of smaller cross-'sectional passage area than said top and being disposed with its upperl end projecting into the' same tov guideY mercury vapor rising from said cathode into said top vand to impart such velocity-and direction to such risingvapor as tocause air carried upwardlyl thereby to be carried in proximityto said outlet for exhaustion therethrough.

`2.1]nl ai'metal vapor re'ctier, a casing a vapor-condensing chamber "therefor pro- UEO lli 

